Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Hostage Situation (UPDATED)

There were reports yesterday that the Mugrabis were suing Mana Contemporary, accusing it of holding their collection "hostage" because of alleged unpaid storage bills. Today, the Art Newspaper has a story headlined "Court orders release of Mugrabi family’s art being held 'hostage' by storage firm" ... but the subhed says "Mana Contemporary must deliver five works in exchange for $1m," which, if that's true -- if they have to pay the million dollars before they get the work back -- means the hostage-taking seems to have worked.

UPDATE: Some clarity from Bloomberg. Under a similar headline -- "Five ‘Hostage’ Paintings Ordered Freed in N.J. Storage Dispute" -- we learn that, in exchange for their freedom, "the Mugrabi family was ordered to post a $1 million bond."